Russell Kempson
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Arsenal’s rebuilding took an unexpected and unwelcome turn last night when it appeared that they had lost Mathieu Flamini to AC Milan. Adriano Galliani, the Milan chief executive, said: “If Mathieu passes a medical tomorrow [Monday], he will be a Milan player. Players want to come here.” Flamini was in the city last night for talks.
Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, had given the midfield player, whose contract expires at the end of this season, a final take-it-or-leave-it offer, believed to be in the region of £40,000 a week. His deadline for a decision was today. After the 1-0 win over Everton yesterday, Wenger appeared to be fearing the worst. “The offer is on the table,” he said. “I’m not worried, but I’m not super-confident.”
Flamini did not play in the match because of injury. Milan resurrected their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League next season by winning their city derby 2-1 against Inter Milan yesterday.
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Aresnal are the penny pinching club of Eureope. The tickets are the highest in the league and at no time has Aresnal bought a player with exisiting world class credentials. We are a kind of rich Bolton taking players nobody else wants. How long b4 Fabregas leaves next? It is inevitable.
justin, london, england
Aresnal do not have the ability to get to the top because of the wage structure. I am convinced if Wenger bought the right players in January the league would have been ours and most probably more. Aresnal do not strengthen they merely replace players. A shallow squad its time to spend money quickly
justin, london, england
Bit like Sol Campbell in reverse....
What goes round, comes around.
Dennis, Richmond, Richmond,
Flamini can be replaced. he has been one of our better players this season but we have a whole host of players in the CM role. Wenger also must have a contigency plan otherwise he would have done anything to keep Flamini at the club. Good luck to him, not all arsenal players succeed when they leave
Mr Singh, Southampton, UK
Interesting thing is, those players who left Arsenal somehow lost in the horizon. Other than occasionally about Henry's unhappiness with Barcelona, the other big name players that left in the past few years are never heard of again.
Frederick, Toronto, Canada
Very true David, Makes us the feeder club of Europe I'd say, ha ha
Stuart, london, England
As long as its not fabregas,adebayor,toure or rosicky. Im not worried, it looks as though Hleb may go and I was never convinced of his desire to play the english game, skilled and soft at best. A new striker,winger and center half should do the business.
Paul Nsanze, Venice, USA
Wenger is good at finding players but crap at geting them to sign contracts before they run out. He has lost a few good players of the years on a bosman when they were worth millions.
david b, stockport, england